Whacked out behavior

"You bunch of pussies! This is nothing!" Clay yelled down. He suddenly saw me, as he perched up on the branch. How he picked me out of the crowd and from that height, I have no idea. "Check it out, Mags! I can fly!" I started to stand up and rush over to the tree when he dropped from the branch. I held my breath as his body hurtled toward the pool.

The kids in the water quickly moved off to the side and he slapped onto the surface with a loud clap, dropping straight to the bottom. "Fucking hell!" Danielyelled, diving under. Rachel and I hurried to the edge of the pool, peering into the water. I thought I would hyperventilate waiting for Daniel and Clay to surface. Why did he do that? That was just crazy! Not something a normal, sane person would do. I was so scared! What if he was hurt? Or dead?

Those seconds as we waited were the longest of my life. Finally Daniel and Clay surfaced. I could see blood streaming down Clayton's face from a cut at his hairline but, other than that, he appeared fine. The pair swam to the shallow end and Daniel smacked Clay on the back of

the head. "That was a pretty moronic thing to do, Clay. Get it together," Daniel told him angrily and swam away, clearly too pissed to say anything more.

No one else approached. Clearly Clay's stunt was too much even for this admiring crowd. Clay climbed up the stairs to where I stood with my arms crossed. His eyes were a bit unfocused and I wondered if he had a concussion. He grimaced. "Not you too, Maggie. It was nothing." He got out of the pool and went to a chair to grab a towel. I followed him.

"You have got to be kidding me. That was totally insane. You could have killed yourself!" I called out. Clay dried his hair, shaking water out of his ears.

He reached up and touched the cut on his forehead and winced. "You might need stitches," I said, inching closer to have a look. Clay let me touch the abra- sion. "I'm fine," he said. He suddenly sounded tired. It was like a light switch flipped and now the energetic, over-the-top boy from fifteen minutes ago was gone. He sat down heavily on the chair and stared blankly ahead of him.

I sat beside him, not sure how to proceed. "Why did you do that? That was really scary."

Clay continued to look ahead of him. "Just wanted to know how it felt to fly," he said unemotionally.

What?

"Clay, I think we should get out of here. You're not yourself tonight. You're being really crazy," I said. Clay snorted as if my words amused him. "What's so funny?" I asked him. Clay finally looked at me, a strange smirk dancing on his lips.

"Just an appropriate choice of words."

"Huh?" He made no sense, but apparently he thought he was being hyster- ical because he laughed again, louder this time. And, just like that, he bounced back up and his mood lightened. "You want to leave? Let's go!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

He started to pull me through the pool gate.

"Hang on a sec, Clay. I need to let Daniel and Rachel know I'm leaving." I tugged on his hand. Clay didn't let go. He looked at me over his shoulder.

"They'll figure you left with me. It'll be fine." And, like that, we were moving quickly through the party, toward the parked cars.

I was so confused by his sudden change in attitude. I had thought he was pissed at me, but now he wanted to leave the party with me. I didn't know what to think. We stopped in front of his car and he dug in his pockets for his keys.

"You're not driving anywhere," I told him. Clay pulled the lining of his pockets out and laughed. He had a strange glint in his eye. "Well, I can't anyway; seems I've lost my keys." Clayton shrugged and pulled me in the direction of my car. "We'll just take yours." Suddenly I wasn't sure I wanted to go anywhere with Clay right now. His behavior was freaking me out. I dug my feet into the dirt and refused to move a step farther. My sudden stop pulled Clay up short. He turned to look at me and frowned.

"What?" he asked.

"Where are we going? What's going on?"

Clay walked toward me and put his arm around my waist. He leaned in and whispered in my ear. "I thought you wanted to leave. So that's what we're doing. Let's go to my house. Ruby and Lisa are gone for the weekend."

His breath sent tingles down my spine. Shit, here we go again with the see- saw mood swings. Didn't we have this conversation not an hour and a half ago? I leaned into him slightly, Clay laid his lips on the side of my neck, and I shivered. Why did I have to develop a conscience all of a sudden?

I pulled away. "We talked about this already, Clay. That isn't going to hap pen." Clay reared back like I had struck him. "Fine. Whatever. Just take me the fuck home." He stomped away like an angry child and waited by the passenger side of my car. I unlocked the doors and Clay climbed in, leaning his wet head against the window, looking like he was about to pass out. I started the engine and pulled my phone out of the center console. I sent a quick text to Daniel and Rachel, let- ting them know I had left and that Rachel should get a ride with Daniel. And then I pulled out of the field.

Clay was completely silent, except to give me directions to his house. When I pulled up in front of a brick Cape Cod, I put the car into Neutral. Before I could say anything, Clayton wrenched open the door, slammed it shut, and bolted to his front door. I couldn't believe he didn't say anything to me. No apology for being a dick. No explanation for his whacked-out behavior. I knew he was drunk but that didn't excuse the way he was acting.

Maybe I was being supremely stupid, but I turned off the car and followed him into the house. Clay had left the front door wide open, a pair of shoes kicked off just inside the entryway. The house was dark and smelled faintly of patchouli.

I suddenly heard a crash from the second floor. I could see the stairs in front of me, so I slowly made my way up them. I could hear yelling and banging com- ing from the end of the hallway. What was Clay doing? And did I really want to follow him when it sounded like he was having a one-man boxing match in there?

But I couldn't leave things the way they were. I didn't understand why he was angry with me. Why he decided to drink, even after telling me that was a big no-no for him. He was a different person tonight and, if I was honest with myself, he scared me.